Batja Mesquita

Batja Mesquita is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium, where she directs the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology. Her affiliations include educational ties to the University of Amsterdam and professional connections to Wake Forest University.

Mesquita's research examines the cultural foundations of emotional experience through three primary lenses:

• How cultural contexts shape emotion perception and regulation
• Emotional acculturation processes in immigrant populations
• Sociodynamic models of emotion construction in social interactions

Her comparative cross-cultural approach frequently contrasts individualistic (American/Belgian) and collectivistic (Japanese/Turkish) frameworks.

Her publication trends reveal sustained focus on:

• Cultural affordances in emotional expression
• Relational well-being through emotional fit
• Context-dependency of emotional experiences
• Socialization of emotion across cultures

The 15 most recent articles demonstrate methodological evolution from survey-based cross-cultural comparisons to longitudinal studies of emotional acculturation and behavioral coding of emotional interactions.